Reduction gear type motor grader blade lift mechanism



Jan- 12, 1965 P. B. BENNER ETAL 3,164,915

REDUCTION GEAR TYPE 'MOTOR GEADER BLADE LIFT MECHANISM Filed Feb. 2s, 1962 2 sheets-sheet 1 Lig) ' 1 VENTORS PAL/L BIENNER HARoLDM. oHNSoN BY CHARLES RowN 7.,;lfM y' A T ORNE YS Jan. 12, 1965 P. B. BENNER ETAL 3,164,915

REDUCTION GIAR TYPE MOTOR GRADER BLADE LIFT MECHANISM Filed Feb. 23, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 HAROLD M JOHNSON BY CHARLES BROWN A T ORNE YS United States Patent O 3,164,915 REDUCTION GEAR TYPE MTOR GRADER BLADE LIFT MECHANISM e Paul B. Benner and Harold M. Johnson, Decatur, and Charles Brown, Peoria, lll., assignors to Caterpillar .Tractor Co.,` Peoria, Ill., a corporation of California Filed Feb. 23, 1962, Ser. No. 175,232

1 Claim. (Cl. 37-156) The present invention relates to :motor Vgraders and more particularly to mechanism for Vcontrolling the psition of motor grader blade support structure.

Motor graders through their unique draw bar, blade mounting, and control 4system have proven to be one of the Irnost versatile machines in the earth moving industry. The wide range of roughV and finished grading efciently afforded 'by motor graders has made them very popularV machines. Maximum adjustment of the -blade 4required to obtain a ninety Vdegree bank cut or an exthe over-all appearance of the machine. Planetary reduction gears 'have proven rvery eective in tractor and vehicle iinal drives in limiting high loads to p restricted areas. Y In connection with motor graders, planetary reduction gears have been utilizedin connection with blade lift meehanismto enable the blade to operate against high loads without resulting damage toblade con` trol mechanism. e Y y v Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an improved blade lift mechanism having planetary reduction gearing.

It is another object of the present invention to provid-e compound planetary reduction gearing for motor grader blade lift mechanism `which doeslnot interfere with operator visibility, which is compactly paclaged, and which provides effective reduction gearing enabling the blade lift mechanism to operate against large-loads. Further andA more specific objects and advantages "of the inventionare made apparent'in the following speci` cation wherein apreferred form ofthe invention' is de- Y scribed by reference tothe'accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

of links 22, one secured at each end of member 21, connect a pair of `levers 23 to the ends of member 21 such that a desired tilt of `blade 16 can :beachieved fby appropriate rotation'of a lever. The mechanism for selectively rotating levers 23 comprises power driven drive shafts 24a and 24b, compound planetary reduction gear mechanism 26, and tilt lever drive shafts 27a and 27b.

Shafts 24a'. and 24b are driven iby an appropriate source of power (not shown) and transmit power to reduction gearing mechanism 26 `which in turn provides power at agreatly reduced speed to one of shafts 27tzgior 27b to provide the desired tilt of @blade 16.v Shafts 24a and 24b have their driven ends at the generally forward portion 1 of the engine section ofthe motor grader and extend through arched `frame 12 to reduction mechanism 26 which is located at a position considerably for-ward of blade support structure 17.

In residing at the forward end of frame 12; the plane- 4the reduction mechanism thus Vplacing `a considerable amount of support structure, as well as -the reduction mechanism, in a position which severely limits the visi-v bility of the vehicle operator. VBy placing the planetary reduction mechanismgat Van extreme forward position, the

present invention `has-numerousgadvantages. Since onlyr at an ext-remeiforward position can the reduction gear- `ing mechanism be placed directly on the frame 12, rather than Vat extendedtransverse positions therefrom, it is possible, through the present invention, to firmly secure the planetary reduction gearing mechanism to the Iframe 12 FIG. 1 is a semi-schematic-side elevationofa motor grader having the blade lift mechanism of the present invention; v

FIG. 2 is a plan View of a motor grader blade, assoare integrally connected. A sun gear 37 is splinedk onto Y ciated support structure,and lift mechanism including planetary reduction gearing, andl FIG. `33 is an enlarged detail view of the compound planetary reduction gearing forming part of the blade lift mechanism, wherein parts are shown in section and other portions are broken away to more clearly. reveal the essential elements. i

Referring now to 4FIGS. 1 and 2, a motor grader 10` generally'comprises a wheel supported engine section 11, a forwardly extending, arched main frame 12 to a bol-ster v 1-3 carried bywheels'14, a-blade l16, blade support struc-y ture 1'7, anda drawbar 18. y

through simple .support means, suchl as saddle support v 28. Another advantage accruing from forward place-l ment of mechanism 26 is the ability to transmit the source of drive power through shafts which are housed within the frame 12. This notonly protects the shaftsfrom being damaged by rocks or the like, but also prevents the shafts from vinterfering with the operation of other mechanism on the motor grader.

Referring now to FIG. 3, it i-s seen that compound planetary reduction gear mechanism 26 comprises a pair of generally identical independently driven reduction gear systems A26a and I26h. When the shaft 24a, for example,

is driven by the power source, rotational force is'transmitted Vthrough a pair of angularly disposed gears 31 and 32` to the central shaft 33 of system 26a. Surrounding Vshaft 33 and coaxial therewith is a carrier -34 having a set of three double planet Igears 36 (only two of which are shown) rotatably mounted thereon. Double planet gears 36 have rst gears 36a and second gears 36h which the end of shaft 33 and lmeshes with eachrof the rst pla-net gears 36a. Itis to be noted that shaft 33 is only v.supported on one end so thatfsunfgear 37 is in effect a floating gear. This provides lfullyequalized loads on the planets and simplifies manufacturing and assembly by eliminating the necessity of close tolerances. It is to be noted that carrier l34 is also illoating, further providing the advantage of equalized loads and ease of manufactur- Planetgears 36a which mesh with sun lgear 37 also Y mesh at their outerperipherywith a ring 'gear 38 which surrounds carrier 34. Ring gear 33, is connected,as by ing rnernber 21 secu-redacross the top thereof.V A pair `v`bolts 39, to a flange 41 which is integral Awith shaft 27a.

Planet gea-rs 36b mesh with a ring gear 42 which also surrounds carrier 34 and is secured, as by bolts 43,V to

lhousing 44 so as to be prevented'from rotating. While ring gears 38 and 42 are of the same internal dimensions, ring gear 42 has one less -tooth than `gear 38 and therefore requires that the teeth of the planet gears meshing therewith be progressively oifset from their integrally connected planet gears; There can be more than asingle tooth difference between the ring gears if special reduction is desired.

As shaft 33 is driven, sun gear 37 induces planets 36 to rotate. Since each of planets 36b meshes with fixed ring gear 42, carrier 34 will be set into motion while the planets meshing with -ring gear 3S will cause rotation of shaft 27a. Due to the single tooth difference between the ring gears, the speed at which ring gear 38 and consequently shaft 27a rotates will be greatly re-v duced from the input rotational speed of shaft 33.

The reduction gearing of system 26h is identical with that described with reference to system 26a. and thus does not need an independent description to teach its mode of ope-ration. Depending upon the position in which it is desired to place blade 16, either or both of shafts 24a or 24b will be connected to the source of power until the position is reached.

Thus, the present invention provides the advantage of reduction gearing means situated in a highly desirable location and also ibenets greatly from reduction gearing mechanism which is relatively simple in construction and highly effective in providing speed reduction.

What is claimed is:

In a motor grader having a rearwardly disposed engine, an `operators station disposed just forwardly of `the engine, a single main `frame portion of hollow construction extending forwardly from the operators station to a biolster supported on front wheels of the grader, an earth working blade supported on a blade circle disposed beneath the main frame between the operators station and the bolster, and yblade lift References Cited in the le of this patent lUNITED STATES PATENTS 1,528,906 Arndt Mar. 10, 1925 1,690,391 Williamson Nov. 6, 1928 1,805,051 Schlacks May 12, 1931 1,815,252 Grigsby` July 21, 1931 1,832,189 De'Giorgi Nov. 17, 1931 1,977,943 Gianini Oct. 23, 1934 2,403,170 Chapman et al. July 2, 1946 2,700,311 Bade Jan. 25, 1955 3,016,636 Lado Jan. 16, 1962 FOREIGN PATENTS 64,023 Sweden Ian. 4, 1926 `OTHER REFERENCES 1959 Cadillac Shop Manual, published -by Cadillac Motor Car Division and General Motors Corporation.

Adams Motor Grader No. 201, Advertizing Circular Form 4119, published by J. D. Adams Co., Indianapolis, Ind. 

